SCHEDULE 10.30 - 11.00 Registration
14.00 - 14.55 Knowing the enemy
11.00 - 11.15 Introduction
14.55 - 15.05 Break
11.15 - 12.15 The challenges we face
15.05 - 16.00 What’s going on
12.15 - 12.25 Break 12.25 - 13.25 Religious coexistence in the Middle East 13.25 - 14.00 Lunch
on Campus 16.00 - 16.10 Break 16.10 - 17.10 Israel in the headlines 17.10 - 17.20 Closing
SPEAKER PROFILES Jason Pearlman - The challenges we face Jerusalem based media advisor working with senior Israeli figures and organizations including the Office of the President of Israel. Born in England, Jason worked for both the Board of Deputies and the Israeli Embassy, before making Aliyah in 2006. Once in Israel, Jason spent three years working in the Prime Minister’s Office in the Government Press Office, where he handled the foreign media for the visits of several heads of state, including Pope Benedict XVI, President Bush, and Prime Minister Brown. As foreign media advisor in the President’s Office, Jason is now responsible for the international media coverage of President Reuven Rivlin. Father Gabriel Naddaf - Religious hatred and coexistence in the Middle East Head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Yafia, near Nazareth, as well as the Spiritual Leader and Chairman of the Christian Empowerment Council - a civil society organization that supports Arabic-speaking Christian-Aramean citizens of Israel who enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. He belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, Israel’s second largest Christian community. Before taking his current post, he served as a speaker and judge in the Court of the Patriarchate in Jerusalem. He studied Theology and Psychology at Haifa University and in Thessaloniki, and is married with two children.
Luke Akehurst - Knowing the enemy Director of We Believe in Israel since 2011. We Believe in Israel is a BICOM initiative and is a broad coalition of over 8,000 supporters of Israel. Luke is not Jewish but has been a committed Zionist all his life. Outside of work he was a Hackney Councillor for 12 years, has stood for Parliament twice and served on the Labour Party National Executive Committee. He was previously an award-winning Director at global PR company Weber Shandwick. Hannah Brady - What’s going on on Campus UJS President 2015-16. Hannah studied Hebrew and Jewish Studies for her MA at UCL, and did a BA in History at King’s College London and the University of Toronto. She has a long history of student campaigning, including campaigning for increased Holocaust education, opposing BDS motions and founding Rethink2014, an internationally successful social media campaign, in opposition to Israeli Apartheid Week. From 2013 onwards, Hannah founded and convened the UJS Disabled Students’ Network, developing national programming to enhance accessibility in student Jewish communities. During this time, Hannah was also a member of UJS National Council, serving as a Trustee in 2014-15. Yiftah Curiel - Israel in the headlines Israeli Embassy Spokesperson, who has served as DeputyChief-of-Mission at Israel’s embassy in Addis Ababa, and as Spokesperson and Cultural Attaché at the Israeli mission in Buenos Aires. His previous position at the MFA in Jerusalem was within the Strategic Affairs Division, as deputy-director of the department for non-proliferation of WMDs, dealing with the Iranian nuclear program, as well as weapons transfers across the Middle-East. Yiftah holds an LLM (Law) and BA (Political Science) from Tel-Aviv University. Prior to joining the MFA, Yiftah worked as an editor in a leading Israeli daily newspaper.